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Battery to boot relocation for N12 EXA and ET.

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Ben Hewitson
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Battery to boot relocation for N12 EXA and ET.

Post by Ben Hewitson »

As this topic has been discussed multiple time through out this forum, i thought it was high time to actually lay some of the questions and methods to rest. Most of us have at least wondered about this modification, but many have been hesitant to undertake it. This might because of a lack of understanding as to why you'd move a battery from the factory location, or perhaps its one of those things that we want to do but never get around to.

What follows is a brief article with a comprehensive step by step preceedure of how to relocate the battery to the boot of your N12 EXA or ET turbo Pulsar, or for that matter, any other vehicle. There will be different ways in which you can achieve these results cheaper than i have, but i leave the final details up to the reader to choose their desired setup.

Firstly there are a number of reasons that you would want to put the battery in the boot of your car. Here are some of the reasons i came up with whilst deciding to modify my cehicle in this manner.

1). With AFM relocation on the horizon i required space to add a cold air box and to aleiviate some of the room in the under bonnet area for intercooler piping etc.

2). Reduce weight over the front axle when adding an intercooler and allowing th ecar to have a slightly better weight ballance.

3). Batteries that are not subjected to the constant change of underbonnet temperature during operation and shutdown and can maintain a relatively even temperature range will last longer. this is prooven quite simply in my Fathers BMW where all the battery's are located in the boot and last on average 12 years..
Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

So lets begin this little excersice.. I allowed myself 2 hours for this modifcation, and i believe that you can easily do the same give or take 30mins.

Step one should be to aquire all your parts. For this build i used heavy duty Battery Cable (had some but you can find at Jaycar for between $12 and $20 a meter), Jaycar 4 and 8 guage cable ends ($2 - $4.95 each), a plastic Marine switch with 2 red keys ($8.95) , a Supercheap Auto's large battery box ($19) and a Jaycar 120A circuit breaker with LED and voltage display ($49).

Once you have all your bits, you can start to get the car ready. I started by moving our 4WD out of the garage to give my self some space. there is nothing worse than having no room to open the doors enough to get inside the car to remove trim and seats etc..

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As i've already installed a false floor into my N12 EXA i thought about places to mount the battery that would allow me to remove the tyre covering panel and allow access to the rear brake and indicator lights if i should need to replace a bulb at some stage. I marked the floor for an aproximate location so i could calculate cable lengths and room etc.

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Just a simple pencil mark for now should do.

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The next step you should undertake is mounting the cercuit breaker or fuse. You should always put the fuse on the positive side as close to the batter terminal as possible. that way if there is a short down the line the breaker will trip and the cable wont heat up and potentially cause a fire. locate the breaker/fuse and drill the guide holes. Please note that this breaker requires it to be bolted to an earthing plate, but i will wire around this later becasue its mounted to plastic.

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Drill the holes in the Battery Box and then make sure you use a large drill bit to 'de-bur' the faces to allow a snug fit.

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Once the holes are drilled you can mount the Breaker or Fuse and screw the bolts through. I decided to mount a piece of thin wood behind to make the setup more rigid because the heavy cables or movement might tear out the small bolts and relatively soft plastic. You might need to cut the bolts off and cover them from behind to protect the battery from sharp objects.

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Finished Breaker

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Last edited by Ben Hewitson on Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

The next bit step is to remove the standard Air Conditioning box from under the dash. i'll assume that you're all capable of removing the parts but i will offer the following tips. You'll need to remove the large aluminium block from the engine bay side of the fire wall to allow this box to be removed. Ove that is done the metal plate and rubber grommet can be removed alone with the 3 screws that hold the box up. I've decided to take this out alltogether becasue i have no A/C and this just a waste of space. If your car has an alarm system, now is the time to disable it or turn the siren off because as soon as it detects the battery being 'cut' it will think its being broken into and defen you instantly...

You are more than welcome to work around this box if you have intact A/C, but the job will be a dificult one with a very small working area being left.

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Please dont damage this as you'll need it later to run the cable through the firewall and protect it from rubbing on the bodywork.

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Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

Start feeding the cable through the car.. First off through the back.

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Then under the rear seat and carpet.

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Under the seatbelt retaining rods and the side trim.

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And then up through the firewall via the same space provided for the computer loom and other wiring. before you ask about electrical interfeerence, i have experienced none since installing this kit.

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Now you've got your cable throught the firewall, you can start to cut and prepare the ends for termination.

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Before laying the seats and trim back into place use a rubber product to protect cable from wearing on parts of the vehicle that might cause the cable damage.. Keen Exophiles may recognise this as a heater hose and it fits perfectly around the curves in the body.. just a fluke i'd say.

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Now that you have replaced everything, you'll notice how invisible the cable really is.. its fantastic.. cant see it at all and it doesn't even come close to any moving parts like the seat rail, or seatbelt mounts. great job.

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Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

Ok. now its time to secure the cable into the engine bay. On previous cars (my brothers) the cable went straight to the starter solenoid and then branched off from there. I've decided to keep the standard wiring and fusable links and to do that i decided on a cheap Marin Switch from Sprint Autoparts for $8.95.. well worth it.

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Everyones mounting technique will be different but i decided to make a bracket from angle.

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As you can see this is a very neat install and it allows the battery to be cut off via two methods.. Marine switch and Circuit Breaker.

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i had to make a new power cable to the starter solenoid so i made a simple link cable from 8gauge wire (standard is 12 or 16). This looks leater and i've found that the car cranks much easier without the lights dimming. It also start on the 2nd or 3rd revolution in cold conditions. so its definately an improvement on the standard setup. You can also see the original fuseable link cables attached here as well. they had loops on the top to attach to the positive on the battery terminal so it was just a case of opening the loop out a little and attaching it to the bolt. very easy and it retains the factory protection that the car requires.

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Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

Now that the front of the car has been taken care of, its time to attach the rear cables.. I started by mounting the Earth to the bodywork in the back. i used an existing hole and gave it a light sand with 400grit paper to allow a metal to metal contact patch. very neat location.

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So.. here we go. all sorted and hooked up. looking great with the LED display.

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Ps.. dont forget to strap down the battery box lid with the supplied strap. I have decided to modify it further by cutting the underside off the MDF to allow easier access with the tyre cover panel. this is one of those things were even the best thought out plans can have a little hitch.

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Finally you'll need to add a few things for legality.

one of those things is a vent tube (to discharge the gas outside the car when the battery is charging) and the other is a metal retainer like the factory item that held the battery in place.

My version of the vent tube will come out the top of the box and run underthe floor to one of the drain ports or to the tyre well and out of that port. which ever is easier.
Last edited by Ben Hewitson on Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

Ok then. One last thing. if you want to remove the battery tray, and thus your radiator overflow tank, i have a simple solution. Go find an N/A N12 and take the overflow from that. it screws into the bodywork aproximately where the original Air Filter Box was located. it uses a short hose and it looks rather trick. i'll take a photo soon and post it up.
Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Paul Smith
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Post by Paul Smith »

What have you done about venting fumes?
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tassuperkart
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Post by tassuperkart »

OK, a few points here need addressing.

Firstly, the battery box must be vented to atmosphere OUTSIDE the car.
As a battery is charged, it gives off hydrogen gas which can collect in the battery box and one spark (from a circuit breaker) and it can go very bang and your ears will ring for possibly the next 3 years!
Also to allow spilled water and acid fumes/residue to get out.

Secondly, the battery must be positively held down via a generic battery hold down clamp available at any auto parts store for bugger all and NEVER by the fabric strap alone. This strap is ONLY to hold the lid on.
Its a requirement of law to have the battery to be mechanically and positively clamped down.
The rods of the battery clamp should pass thru the base of the battery box AND the boot floor and positively clamp the whole show down.
In event of a rollover or a decent shunt, a 15 kilo battery may just end up tapping you on the shoulder.

L8tr
E
Forcd4 wrote:Oh fuk no dude it's you a again, the oracle.
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

all covered guys. if nissanexa.com hadn't shut down all yesterday i would have been able to complete the write up..

to answer a few points.

Venting is taken care of by a PE tube on the back of the box running into the tyre well and out of the car.

The strapping is there to keep the lid on and a metal retainer will be added inside the box when i finished it (had hoped to finish the article without people posting gaps in it, but not to worry. we shall edit it when its complete). i reckon the battery would give you a fair bit more of a tap on the shoulder too. especially if it manages to come through the rear seat or rear window.

price.. i did indeed forget to add a few prices. i'll put them in now.
Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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SashET
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Post by SashET »

Looks shit hot anyway Hewi, good work. One thing I recently did was to cover the main 12volt line in that corregated black conduit stuff to protect it from wearing through the insulation if i rubbed on anything for a long period of time (theres heaps of points where this can happen). Protects and looks pretty cool too. Just a suggestion.

Cheer's
Sash
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Ben Hewitson
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Post by Ben Hewitson »

SashET wrote:Looks shit hot anyway Hewi, good work. One thing I recently did was to cover the main 12volt line in that corregated black conduit stuff to protect it from wearing through the insulation if i rubbed on anything for a long period of time (theres heaps of points where this can happen). Protects and looks pretty cool too. Just a suggestion.

Cheer's
Sash
cheers. the stuff you cant see between the firewall and the boot is all covered in 5mm rubber and some corregated. plus there is a gromet in the front. should be nice and safe. but yeah, you definately need to worry about rub points. they can easily wear through and cause a short that may lead to a fire.
Uncie-G wrote: As for the drift steering wheel, if you use this combined with earthing kit at the same time the overall road feel and torque steer gets reduced.
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Post by BQ.05.TD »

yes E is on the money there, you can get away with out having to vent the battery to atmo if its a sealed battery, but it must be bolted to the mettal structure of the car useing a form of factory clamp, and a nother 2 things they come up with is there has to be a drain hole that goes right threw the mettal to atmo. yes it sounds stupid but its law in NSW
AND the battery cable has to be secured every 600mm minimum with a protective cover to stop it rubbing. ( not just on sharp bits but the hole cable..

but apart from that benny it was a very good instalation you did there, well done
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Stuart
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Vic Roads Newsletter

Post by Stuart »

Check this out.

www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/3C ... 7231kb.pdf

All the best guys.

-Stuart
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The Renegade
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Post by The Renegade »

Great link Stuart, how did you come by it?
Is it something that we could include a link to on this forum without copyright implications?

Cheers mate.
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